Food quality top of the mind for urban Indians while ordering from fast-food chains: Survey

The recent controversy around popular fast-food chain McDonald’s potentially using ‘fake cheese’ in its menus has put the spotlight on the functioning of quick-service restaurants (QSR) and companies. 

Though McDonald’s did eventually get a clean chit from the food regulator, the incident brought to fore the omnipresence of fast food in our daily lives. A recent survey by YouGov India showed that more than anything else, quality of food and its price mattered the most to urban Indians while eating from quick-service restaurants.

Around 93% of those surveyed voted for quality as a highly important factor while ordering food from fast-food chains. This is followed by price (76%) and discounts (65%) as price-sensitive Indians place cost above other deciding factors such as brand name and advertising, shows the survey.

Also Read: Mint Explainer: What's behind the slowdown in fast-food sales? 

The survey was conducted online with 950 respondents between 3 and 9 April 2024, covering over 210 cities.

Not surprisingly, close to 45% of urban Indians said they eat at fast-food restaurants at least once a week, with 7% saying they eat at these restaurants on a daily basis. 

The prevalence of eating at QSR chains is nearly similar among men and women. The share was 47% and 44% for male and female respondents, respectively. Just 6% of respondents said they never order from fast-food restaurants.

Considering such prevalence of eating out, nearly all the respondents placed a premium on quality of food, as seen above, while deciding where to order from. Just over half of respondents (56%) said brand name is highly important.

Enticing advertisements by QSR chains seem to allure few urban Indians to eat at their places: just 36% respondents said ads were a highly important factor while deciding the place to eat.

In terms of which QSR brands customers trust in terms of food quality, no brand out of the 19 popular brands posed to respondents got a thumbs-up from a majority. This indicates that big fast-food giants have a lot more to do in terms of appealing to Indians’ quality preferences. 

Also Read: Fast-food chains push more value meals as in-store footfall remains weak

Nonetheless, Domino’s and McDonald’s were among the top two brands out of the 19 brands posed by the survey that got a thumbs-up from respondents in terms of food quality. Around 46% and 43% of respondents voted for Domino’s and McDonald’s, respectively.

(The promoters of HT Media Ltd, which publishes Mint, and Jubilant Foodworks, which runs Domino's, are closely related. There are, however, no promoter cross-holdings. While Mint partners with YouGov India in a biannual millennial survey, it had no involvement in the framing or administration of this particular survey.)